On Friday, Eastern’s men’s and women’s swim teams competed at IUPUI to open the season.

The men’s and women’s teams swam against the IUPUI Jaguars, while the women also competed against Butler.

Both teams lost in their first meet of the season, with the men losing 142- 63 to the IUPUI and the women losing 155-48 to IUPUI and 126-77 to Butler.

Despite the losses, first year coach Jacqueline Michalski was pleased with how things went.

“I think today’s meet went well,” Michalski said. “As a whole, I was very proud of the team and how they approached their races. Many of the athletes had to work outside their comfort zones and push through the discomfort of unfamiliar events.”

The only individual winner on the day was sophomore Harris Thompson. Thompson won his race in the men’s 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.28. He also won his race in the men’s 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:45.47.

Thompson was the only winner overall for Eastern, but they also had some second place finishes as a team and individual.

The team of freshman Amy Smith, junior Kelsey Ferguson, sophomore Paige Eavenson and junior Kaylee Morris took second in the women’s 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:08.47

Also taking a very close second place finish for the Panthers was freshman Steve Fishman. Fishman finished with a time of 1:43.11 in the men’s 200-yard freestyle, only .37 seconds behind the IUPUI first place swimmer.

Morris had a second place finish in her 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.84, only .06 seconds behind the winner.

For the women Ferguson had a second place finish in her 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:34.54.

Even though the wins were not there for the Panthers, Michalski said many positive things came out of the meet.

“It was really good to see the hard work paying off,” Michalski said.

She would later note that three swimmers set personal bests in the meet. Smith set a personal best in her 100 and 200-backstroke, freshman Matt Jacobs in his 200-Breaststroke, and freshman Patrick Wood in his 200-Butterfly.

“Many of the returning swimmers may not have posted their best times from last season, but they do give us a benchmark for this point in the season,” Michalski said.

The next time the swim teams compete will be Nov. 7 at the Padovan Pool with a 6 p.m. start. They will both be taking on Ball State University.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].